The Oil Drum

[editor's note, by Dave] Generously, Matt Simmons and SCI have given me permission to reference their report Simmons Oil Monthly - Qatar, by Robert A. Kessler, April 24, 2006. Matt wanted me to "alert readers that SCI made a major exception to their strict rules of only sending their institutional research to their institutional clients". My thanks to Matt and SCI for making this report available. I believe it will appear soon on the Simmons & Company International website. I'll do an update when that happens.

Update [2006-6-11 15:33:22 by Dave]: The SCI report I used for this story is now available there. Simmons Oil Monthly - Qatar (large pdf warning).

Without much fanfare, Qatar announced a moratorium on new development of the natural gas North Field basin, a decision that had actually been taken in 2005. At the same time, in a recent presentation by Matt Simmons entitled Tight Oil Supplies, we run into this intriguing slide (#44, big pdf warning).

The North Field/South Pars Natural Gas Complex
Figure 1 -- Click to Enlarge

This report will go into considerable detail about the future role of the North Field/South Pars natural gas field, it's size and importance, the reasons for the moratorium and finally important questions about both the geology and proven reserves of the field. As Simmons notes in his slide, there is a "large degree of uncertainty regarding [the] true potential [of this field]". The topic is important regarding the uncommon phrase "peak natural gas" on a global scale. As we know, natural gas production has already peaked in North America.